Persona
by ImANaturalBlond
Summary: Persona is a fanfiction, based upon Jaune Arc, a character from the incredibly popular web-series "RWBY", created by Monty Oum. The fanfiction takes place in an alternate universe where Jaune Arc discovers his semblance is quite unique indeed, although, what comes with the semblance is more than interesting...
1. Chapter 1 - The Start of Something Wild

**Hello everyone! Welcome to my first ever fanfiction! I do hope you enjoy this. Please bare in mind that I am quite new to this, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't criticize me! I'd prefer harsh treatment, as it seems to work better! Please, give me all the criticism! All of it! Now then, let us begin, shall we?!**

 _ **Chapter 1 - The Start of Something Wild**_

Well, this day was quite pleasant! Jaune had been admiring the end of Fall... It was quite gorgeous indeed. As the blond boy admired the cloudy, yet surprisingly blue sky, he noticed something, to be more specific, he noticed a small snowflake, falling gracefully towards the ground... How beautiful! He adored snow! And as he continued to stare in awe at the snowflake, more began to fall towards the ground, from the clouds above. His eyes were drawn up to the sky by the grace of the snowflakes, causing him to offer the clouds a pleasantly peaceful smile... But the peace had to come to an end of course. As he relished in lovely weather, a certain ginger haired girl had already started sprinting up towards him before literally tackling him towards the ground, creating an audible _thud_ _!_ This left Mr. Arc stunned and dizzy for a few moments before he quickly shook his head to see just what kind of animal would do such a-

"Hey Jaune!" Oh! Speaking of animals... "Hey, Nora..." He offered a groan and a small, almost pained chuckle, attempting to signal the girl to get off with pathetic whimpers, but she either didn't quite catch his message or, simply put, didn't care! She just offered a wide, cheek to cheek smile which revealed her pearly whites. "So, what'cha doin' out here anyway? C'mon! You know what's happening at Beacon today! It's the Mini-Ment!" The ginger girl hopped up to her feet, which Jaune now wished never happened. Not because he could see up her skirt, god no, Nora didn't wear tight underwear or anything like in those anime shows, no, she was fully covered and ready to rumble... but because her boots were now pressed into his chest, making it slightly hard to breath- oh, that might have been a rib. "...N-Nora... Did you just call the School Tournament a Mini-Ment? It's not exactly... all that small..." Jaune attempted speaking but found himself attempting to force the words out. Holy crap, he didn't exactly expect Nora to be this heavy! After Nora finally looked down at her wincing leader, she finally hopped off, elegantly falling to the ground, either in attempts to impersonate the snowflakes currently falling, or to patronize Jaune about his less than graceful fall.

After a brief moment of gathering all the oxygen he could into his lungs, just in case someone wished to knock it back out of him, he got to his feet, exhaling the oxygen he had spent at least twenty seconds gathering... Jeez, what a waste- why was he thinking about this?! He quickly shook his head before turning towards the ginger, upbeat girl. He was about to begin explaining about how dangerous it can be to do such a thing, in public while he was off-guard, and as if the girl knew it, she grabbed Jaune, staring into his eyes before whispering "There's no time to explain, Jaune. We must go! Fly, leader! We must fly!" Oh, Jaune did not like where this was going, not one bit. And his suspicions seemed to be correct as the ginger girl swept him off his feet, carrying him in an, ironically, bridal manor, before beginning to sprint towards Beacon... He'd take riding a motorbike with Yang over sprinting with Nora any day. The girl was all about getting straight to the point, or in this case, the destination, which they had nearly arrived at surprisingly early.

"Alright... Nora... Let's never do that again, unless one of my limbs are literally hanging off of my body and I need instant medical attention... Or we need to win a race... Got it?" The panting, faintly green Jaune directed a weak glare towards his teammate, who just seemed to be giggling and saluting him. "You got it, Jaune! For competitive use only!" Did she not hear about him talking about getting injured?... Oh whatever, it's not like that mattered now. What mattered now was not getting involved in this little School Tournament that was going on... Students were separated from their teams to get pit against eachother. The battles were randomized, but they seemed to be quite unfair, as Professor Ozpin added a brand new element; "Luck", where the fights can range from One on One to One on Four... scary. Instead of the Vytal Festival's tournament grounds, being an incredibly large arena, they used a smaller school arena, and there was a far less amount of Dust consumption within the school's arena, making it far more usable. Jaune planned on faking an illness, just in case he's forced to fight someone like Yang, or Ruby... Or Cardin... Or anybody for that matter. He didn't exactly like fighting other Hunters and-or Huntresses, he didn't quite... understand why though, it gave him an amazing thrill, but unlike most, the fear of failing overwhelms that thrill, causing him to have major anxiety when fighting other people.

About three hours had passed since Jaune and Nora hurled themselves into Beacon, getting ready... All the students in Beacon were here, even a few visiting people from Atlas, Vacuo and Mistral were here! It was quite the culturally diverse crowd; faunus and human alike. But currently, the only one seeming to keep quiet was Jaune Arc, quietly sitting in his chair as he watched a rather lovely looking, middle aged blonde dame take to the small stand in the middle, her form stern and her expression sterner.

"Students from Vale, Mistral, Vacuo and Atlas, I welcome you all to our third annual Beacon Tournament. Now then, I would like to discuss a few things before we get into the fights. The first thing being the line-up for the fights. These fights are chosen at complete random, similar to the Vytal Festival, however, due to a heavy recommendation-" The woman seemed almost displeased as she spoke, a tiny hint of spite in her voice... "We have added an element which will test even the most... unreliable of varibles that a Hunter or Huntress has. Luck. Each Beacon Student has been placed into a virtual randomizer and one shall be picked out and then another, but before all of this comes the new part; the amount of fighters. This won't be like the Vytal Festival with four versus four, then two versus two, no! A number from one to four will be chosen from one side, and vice versa. If you are lucky, you will be assisted by people you work well with... If you are unlucky, you might be one person going against say... an entire team of students..." Miss Goodwitch began to drag on about rules now... It just got... so... so boring. Jaune nearly fell asleep, but was awoken as names began getting called.

"Please not me... _Please_ not me..." Jaune waited... One person versus Two... "Cardin Winchester versus!... Coco Adel and Sage Ayana!"

"Oh thank god..." And this continued for another two fights. Jaune would hope and prey that he wasn't chosen, only to have his prayers answered by some sort of powerful force he didn't even have the will to name, due to his happiness of course! He almost felt confident that nothing would happen! I mean, the fight between Velvet and Fox versus Yatsuhashi and Emerald was done! I mean, c'mon, no way would-

"Oh..." The woman's voice seemed almost pained by what she saw. "...Jaune Arc... Versus Mercury Black and Yang Xiao Long."

 _'Oh dear god, I am going to die.'_


	2. Chapter 2 - Kain Arc

**Hello there! I _know_ this isn't gonna be a very consistent upload schedule, as things just seem to love coming up, but hey! I'll be writing these in bulk before hand! I just really wanna get this... out there, y'know?! Anyway, enjoy Chapter 2, I aim to make it a lot longer than Chapter 1!**

 ** _Chapter 2 - Kain Arc_**

 _'Oh god, I'm gonna die...'_ was the only thought going through Jaune Arc's head as he saw the horrifying reality that was in his face... He had to face against two rather... powerful students... Sure, they weren't Pyrrha, but they were probably more brutal to be honest- was he reassuring himself or making himself feel worse?! Before he could decide on such a thing, his chair sprung up, sending the blond boy flying. As he fell, he let out a loud yell, before being caught by the talented Miss Nikos. Of course, she had to use her semblance, as to not disturb the people infront of her. After a small sigh of relief and sudden realization, he was now back to square one, shaking in his boots as the blonde bombshell and the ashen haired boy kept smirks on their faces, obvious thoughts running through their heads, such as; "Easy win" or on Mercury's face "Easy kill"... Oh, sweet Maidens he was going to be killed. He was going to be killed so hard that he'd die of killed-ness!...-ness... Oh god, now he was prolonging the inevitable with elongated thoughts. Was this the first sign of insanity?...

The boy had no time to think as the timer began counting down from twenty. They all got to their sides, Mercury and Yang discussing a small game plan as Jaune rushed to get his Shield on his arm and his sword out, his hands and legs visibly quaking at the sheer near-killing intent the unexpected duo gave off. It was enough to make an Ursa run away with its tail behind its legs... Great, he had to fight this...

 _10_

 _9_

 _8_...

This was it... His resting place... His final stop on life. It was fun, he just wished his sisters could see it. He never even got to try the dust-slot Ruby added to his sword, despite his unwillingness to alter the blade... He even packed red dust!... It was such a shame...

 _4_

 _3_

 _2_...

He had to get ready! Maybe he can at least put up a fight! The dodges he learned from Pyrrha, the slow yet effective battle tactics she taught him... He'd make her proud! He'd make her-

 _1_

 _Go!_

Regret ever putting faith in him...

He had no time to react as his opponents shot towards him, Yang picking up the boy and hurling him towards Jaune, letting the male set up for a seemingly devastating drop-kick. Jaune was able to narrowly dodge the drop-kick, and just barely manage to pull his shield sharply to his left to block another kick, leaving himself open to the boys weaponized boots, as he fired off of the shield, causing him to go flying, as well as Jaune, but unlike Jaune, Mercury seemed to land without so much as a single fault in his step, where as Jaune... pretty much made every mistake possible while trying to recover. He rolled onto his back before forcing himself further in that direction, managing to get onto his hands and knees before hopping to his feet. "Alright... Not bad, blondy... You're pretty high there." Mercury made a pleased face and Jaune offered a confused one. "Excuse me?..." "Oh! Not you! Her." He smirked and pointed up. Jaune didn't even dare look up as he shot to the left, narrowly escaping the impact the blonde made with her fist- there seems to be a trend here...

About four minutes into the fight and Jaune was already getting tired, and it was made visible by the beads of sweat dripping down his forehead and neck. He currently stood without his sword, as it was being spun around by Mercury, seeing just how good it was... "Pretty average. You should have used this dust slot to your advantage... Might'a been more tricky to disarm you..." Oh fucking Fall Maiden, he had forgotten about the dust... Jaune just let out a small snarl, before Yang offered her own, causing Jaune to flinch and move back, giving her a little bit of entertainment. "C'mon, Jauney. I'm not that scary... At least not when you're standing that far away." This merely caused her small grin to become a devious smirk, only to make Jaune a little closer to peeing himself.

Jaune was then completely caught off guard as a foot slammed against his ribs, causing his health bar on the display screen to shoot down, with each tumble to the side the hit caused, before he found himself drifting across the ground, even a tiny bit of blood coming from his lip from biting it to hold in a yelp. Granted, his aura healed that nicely, but it would take a while to heal from the impact he suffered. He slowly got to his feet, looking at his meter... 16?... Oh god, he could take one more hit... Or he couldn't, as everything around him began to spin and blur, before his vision became sideways. Of course, he had collapsed and found himself slowly drifting into a deep sleep.

"Well that's a rootin'-tootin' shame. He actually held up fairly well..." Mercury looked at Yang and spoke, they both seemed to agree he held his own, despite not doing any damage to the two... The two noticed Glynda enter the arena but blink and begin backing up as she stared at the screen.

 _16_

 _17_

 _20_

 _30_

 _50_

 _90_...

"Wait- his aura is replenishing?! How's that even-" Yang stared at the screen and took a step forward but Mercury grabbed her and turned her head towards the now, awake figure. The blond who was previously knocked out slowly got to his feet, a light chuckle escaping his lips. "Well now... Ain't this quite the little gathering..." As the boy began looking up, his hair grew slightly darker, even some patches of black and purple appearing among the blond. His eyes had also changed to a deep indigo, different from his normal sky blue eyes. He let out a small laugh before removing his chest-plate and hoodie, revealing a form-fitting vest which hugged his lean yet ever so slightly muscular figure tightly. He cracked his shoulders and stretched a little. "You gave me a beating! What was I even doing to lose so bad?!" Jaune continued stretching before Yang tilted her head in confusion.. infact, many people did. As their confusion only grew, Yang finally managed to speak. "J-... Jaune?"

"Jaune? Who's Jaune? The name's Kain! I would'a went with Pain, but seems slightly cliché, don'cha think, beauty?" Beauty? This definitely wasn't Jaune. He was far from. He was confident and... nearly a completely different person! He just let out a sinister laugh as he admired the display screen floating to the side. "Who's the sexy beast on the left? Looks like me, only a little less good lookin'... Even has the same surname... Oh yeah! Fight! Gimme one second, I gotta prepare!" He chuckled innocently before the aura surrounding his arms became visible, only to detach from his body and float infront of him, both beginning to form large fists in the air. The commentators were... left speechless, so were many!

Now Jaune stood there, surrounded by a massive stadium of people as they watched his aura float off of his body and into the air, creating large fists. The boy reached into his back pocket, the hands of aura following his movements before he smirked, finding a small red crystal in his pocket. Once he pulled it out, he admired it before throwing it into his mouth, causing a few members of the audience to smirk. As he began chewing, he suddenly swallowed, spitting out a little blood he got from cutting his tongue. "Not the best quality. Schnee dust forever and always Not this cheap stuff! " He sung his words as he danced in place, the aura floating infront of him slowly began to turn red. He slammed his fists together, smirking, only for the aura hands to follow at the exact same time, once colliding, beginning to let off a little bit of steam. "Let's get this started!"

With new-found energy, Jaune- I mean... Kain rushed towards the two, who suddenly got back into fighting positions, attempting to do what they did from the beginning, but this time, Jaune happily let the leg hit his head, causing his bar to go down by ten... A pretty hard hit, yet all Jaune did was throw a fist to the side, the hand made of Aura hitting Mercury rather hard, sending him flying. The ashen haired boy was _not_ pleased with this. He looked at his own meter, which was now sat at seventy three... Shit. As he pondered what the hell this kid's semblance was, Yang was currently getting into a fist fight with Kain, who was suddenly dodging a lot faster, aiming for weak parts of her legs and sides, while attempting to bring her down with the large Aura-Gauntlets, as so rightfully dubbed by the commentators. Eventually, Kain became frustrated as he let the blond slam a fist into his stomach, letting her shoot a yellow-dust round into it. Oh god, that hurt.. but hurt so _good_. He just smirked as he then grabbed her hand with the right Aura-Gauntlet and swung her, the blonde wincing as her aura was being burned. Kain let out a maniacal laugh before receiving a hard hit to the side, a heel, right between his shoulder blades and then a heel to the back of the head. His aura was down to twenty...

The duo were looking far less eager to continue this fight. While Kain surely was bleeding, as were they. They hadn't expected- nobody expected this! Both sides were down to sixteen! One more hit from either would end him, but the same goes for those two... And just like that, Kain was off again, sprinting towards the two. Mercury panted as he looked down at his legs for a brief moment before raising his hands into the air. "I give up..." He couldn't afford to buy those parts again... Cinder wouldn't want that... And he already had to replace the heel and the ankle joint, let alone get a brand new power-core for them... Jeez, what a hassle. As Yang was suddenly stunned by his betrayal, she felt a burning sensation on her stomach before she felt herself being slammed against the ground... This pain she felt... Despite her eyes glowing red, she felt oddly calm. The boy known as Kain walked over, to her, smirking before crouching down. "Let's do it again... some... time..." Kain's eyes grew heavy and the last thing he remembered was golden hair and red...

Later that day, Jaune had found himself in the hospital, currently eating horrible pudding... "Great. Knocked out in my fight... I bet I disappointed everyone..." His thoughts were interrupted as he suddenly found himself being surrounded by teachers and a few students, all shocked, especially Miss Goodwitch. "Mr. Arc, first and fore-most, I'd like to... congratulate you." "For what? Losing-" He was met with a few gasps... alright, he was confused. Jaune's eyes met a bandaged up blond. "O-Oh my god, Yang! Who did you fight?" "You... Really don't remember, do you?... You won, Jauney."

...Eh?

 **EH?!**


	3. Chapter 3 - Coming to Terms

**Holy crap! Some people actually wanna look at this! That's nice to see. Well, I guess here we are, and I've introduced Kain Arc! Alright, as a few people have asked me, I shall make something clear. Kain is not Jaune's semblance, his semblance is not creating a brand new person inside of him with their own semblance. Jaune's semblance is to project his aura into different things. He can make a sword from it, or, like in the last chapter, a pair of hands. However, he has to remove the aura around his body and the more aura he gives up, the larger the projections can be.**

 **However! Jaune doesn't know how to activate this semblance. Only Kain does. And Kain is a personality Jaune had no clue he had, since Kain only really comes out when Jaune's knocked out and weak, almost as if Kain is Player 2 to Jaune, whom would be Player 1! Alright, now that that's cleared up, to Chapter 3! Also I have a small thing I wanna ask... Who should Jaune be shipped with? Leave suggestions as well as reviews! Remember! No sugar coating! I can take criticism and I need to know when I've done bad! Thank you! (One thing to mention, this chapter won't be as long as Chapter 2, but believe me, past chapter 4, they'll get a hell of a lot longer!)**

 _ **Chapter 3 - Coming to Terms**_

"Eh?! What do you mean I won?! I collapsed in the middle of the fight!" The blond boy remained completely shocked, having no real idea of what was going on. He was being told that he won? That's absurd! He went up against Mercury Black and Yang Xiao Long! How did he come out of that _alive_ let along come out as the winner? This was confusing to him... How? Did he not pass out? Was it just him losing memory or something? I hit the ground pretty hard...

"Jaune..." The blonde bombshell leaned over, narrowing her lilac eyes. "Does the name Kain Arc mean anything to you?" Kain Arc? Yeah, that was his imaginary friend as a child. Kain, the guy who would make pain puns using his own name, which Jaune found hilarious... how does Yang know about _that_?! He just... Simply nodded, not knowing what else to do. "Now... Don't freak out or anything... But we're all pretty sure we fought him... Kain that is..." "...Excuse me?" Jaune's confusion was set aside as he attempted to fathom what Xiao Long had just said to him.

"You fought... my childhood imaginary friend... alright, what in the hell is this?! Some kinda practical joke?!" Jaune's confusion slapped him across the back of his head, feeling like he had just been told probably the stupidest thing he had ever heard- oh wait! He had been! "Look, we're not joking! Your aura began replenishing at a rapid pace before you woke up! And you were... A lot more... A lot more... Boisterous?-" Yang was cut off as the ashen haired student known as Mercury stepped over, leaning on the bottom of the bed. "Talented. The word you're looking for is talented. Your little buddy Kain activated a semblance I ain't even heard of before. You were able to move your aura from your body and make it form hands, which people are now referring to as Aura-Gauntlets. Pretty cool name, right?" He offered Jaune a small smirk, almost to mock the blond.

"...M-Miss Goodwitch! They're lying, right?! Pyrrha?... Nora? Ren?!" He stared at his teammates who didn't know what to say. Even Nora just rubbed her arm and looked to the side. Oh god, what the hell was this?! Some kind sick- alright Jaune. Calm down... this couldn't get any worse. He just inhaled... and exhaled. "C-... Can I have some time alone? I need to just-... take a nap or something." Miss Goodwitch nodded to him before beginning to lead the students out of the room before they exited the hospital building of Beacon and began walking along the courtyard.

"...Did anybody notice somethin' enticing about Jaune when he used that "Kain" thing?" Yang spoke, a light pink dusting her cheeks as a certain white haired heiress narrowed her icy eyes. "And what's that supposed to mean, Xiao Long?" "I dunno he just seemed... Confident. And strong." The group of students just looked at Yang, all except Pyrrha who... had to agree with some of the points, except the one where she called him enticing... She didn't exactly know if she liked that side of Jaune, it confused her and worried her more than anything. "What are you thinking- don't you dare go thinking that way of Jaune Arc! The last thing _I_ need is to see more of him, due to you becoming infatuated by him!- Oh! No, sorry "Kain." infatuated by "Kain."" Yang just frowned and turned on her heel, storming off. Her sister ended up following her and Blake convinced Weiss to start working on an apology.

Nora, Ren and Pyrrha sat in their dorm room, completely silent as they just... sat around with nothing to do. "...Did Jaune tell any of you about his semblance?... Pyrrha, he must have told you! You're like his unknowing crush!" This caused Pyrrha's cheeks to burn a bright scarlet but she just shook her head. "I wasn't aware." "Nor was I... but I heavily doubt Jaune would come to me to tell me such delicate information. Afterall, we're not exactly on the closest of terms like you and I for example, Nora." "Well, it didn't hurt to ask, y'know? I mean... I didn't even know split personalities were a thing in this school! Don't those come under medical health issues? How did he get into the school without even knowing that?" The entire dorm had a certain atmosphere to it, that Nora only just discovered. She quieted down and sighed as everyone decided to begin getting rested up... They didn't even care about the rest of the fights. They just wanted day one to get over with. Day two might be better...

 _00:13_

It was about... Midnight? Jaune was currently on his fourth our of keeping his eyes closed. He hadn't opened them once, he hadn't even bothered to... He was exhausted, and he felt like he was being betrayed by his own body, his own mind... He had to do something about this, he was so in the dark and he had no clue what was going on! It was scary... So he decided to do what he normally did when he was a child... He'd attempt talking to Kain... So now, he lay on his back, his eyes closed as he drifted into a light sleep, where he found nothing. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't hear anything and he sure as hell didn't see this Kain person! Kain wasn't real!

...Was he? He had no idea.

During the night, he had disturbed Miss Goodwitch who was no where near sleeping as she was currently doing paperwork in her dorm/office(?). She allowed Jaune to enter and watch the Beacon Tournament for himself. He watched it, completely engrossed in the fights which were a lot better to watch than to be in. As his fight rolled around, all he could do was wince and get phantom pains all over his body, tired from just watching it. But as he saw himself go down, he just watched his body rise and take on this... this persona...

"Kain's real... but he doesn't share- he doesn't share knowledge of me! He doesn't even know who I am! He- I- _It_ doesn't seem aware of what happened to it before I passed out... So- do I have two personalities?!" Glynda attempted to calm the boy down, sitting him down before beginning to explain a theory she had.

"So... You think that this is all in my head?..." The blonde woman nodded, almost sad to explain. "So... I have a personality in my head, the personality of everything I want to be and more... and because it is everything I want it to be, it knows how to unlock my seemingly strong semblance, which I don't know how to, because I forced it upon one personality... That's... That's so stupid..." He rested his head in his hands and took a few shaky breaths. "All of this is stupid! I'm me! I'm Jaune-fucking-Arc! I'm not Kain!" Glynda Goodwitch just slowly shook her head, leading the boy towards a separate dorm, for only one occupant as she felt like he at least needed an environment without beeping machines that weren't even assisting him. He lay down on his temporary bed and rested his face onto the pillow, remaining silent.

"How could this get any worse?... How?..."


	4. Chapter 4 - Fluff and Flames

**Hello again! Well, I am actually kinda happy that this is receiving good praise so far. I hope to only give you the best! And I mean it! I'll strive to give people a good fanfiction! So, I'd like to say once more; Criticism is welcome! You don't learn from sugar coating and I'm willing to accept a bit of tough love! So far for the ships I've gotten... -Drum roll-**

 **Cinder - 1!**  
 **Velvet - 1!**

 **Hehehe, we'll just need to see where the romance goes, will we not? Onward! To Chapter 4!**

 _ **Chapter 4 - Fluff and Flames**_

"Jaune... Jaune!" a voice called out to Jaune... was it an angel, taking him away from this place? Was it a beautiful maiden, saving him from the torment that plagued him at the moment. "Hey, Jauney boy... Get up, blondy!" The boy, so kindly nicknamed "Blondy" groaned as he felt his body being shoved slightly. He opened his eyes to see an ashen haired male who loomed over him, an odd, almost sinister look plastered onto his face. "There we go. You remember me right?" Jaune narrowed his eyes up at the student before him, tilting his head to the left in confusion. "...Mercury? What're you doing-" The blond was cut off as Mercury waved his hand infront of him. "Look, I'm gonna shoot straight with you. I'm a little mad that you- no... That this "Kain" guy wiped the floor with me. He really only too hits when he wanted to get close... So I just wanted to make sure you knew that, if "Kain" hadn't came around... I would have beat your ass to a bloody pulp." Jaune just stared at him, a lot less tired as the boy's face grew angry and frustrated. "...W-Whatever you say, Mercury. I one hundred percent believe you... C-Can I go to sleep now?" Mercury let out a small _hmph_ before turning around and beginning to walk away, his hands slipping firmly into his pockets as he exited the patient's room, lifting his scroll up and putting it to his ear. "C'mon, actually be useful for once and pick u- Em! Perfect timing, I was just mentioning that I need some help from my partner... Yeah, we gotta keep this a secret from her... That Jaune guy's gonna be a bother, a big one. So make sure that this little conversation keeps between me and you... Let's go find Roman, we're gonna need a hit man.

A rather lovely looking, dark skinned woman walked through the streets of Vale, gorgeous green hair flowing in the slight breeze that passed her. She seemed nice enough, a small, delicate smile on her face that almost looked caring. The woman stopped infront of an alleyway as a voice emerged from it. "You get the cash?" The girl lifted up three, thick wallets that were stocked with cash and credit cards, a small grin on her face. "And what did you do?" "I stood here and looked pretty." She hated Mercury's quick backchat. It was one of the many things that brought her close to slicing his head in half. She could probably do it, too... but she knew what would happen if either one of them got into a fight, and what would happen would not be good.

"Alright, enough with the death stares. We're gonna go see Roman." Mercury's face took a turn, turning dark... it almost made Emerald laugh as he attempted to seem angst filled and dark... "What a loser..." She mumbled under her breath before continuing to follow the boy. At the end of the alley, they came to a door, which they opened and entered. Inside was a set of stairs that lead down. The passage way took them at least five minutes to go down, which was pretty insane, even for Roman... Can't be too careful, was the only things that came to the two's minds. As they reached the bottom, they came to a dimly lit room, where a table was sat in the middle and an orange haired man was sitting with his legs propped up onto it. A certain, short, multicolored haired girl sat with her parasol sitting over her shoulder as she slowly removed her glove to check on her nails.

"Hey there, sport! How can I help you this lovely evening? Y'need some kinda favor?" The orange haired criminal just smirked as he rested his cheek on his knuckle, his eyes drifting towards the Neapolitan haired girl's figure before blinking. "Neo! Look professional! Jeez, at least act interested in the squirt's proposal..." The girl just rolled her eyes and silently crossed one leg over the other, her apathetic appearance saying all it needed to for Mercury to forget asking her for anything. "C'mon! Shoot! You know you can come ask me for anything, as long as you're willin'a pay up of course." He smirked in unison with his own partner.

"We need your friend here to kill someone. Someone quite powerful-" The male was interrupted by a silky smooth, sensual voice.

"And who might that be, my dear Mercury?" A figure emerged from the darkness, a gorgeous looking vixen with soft, fair hair and a slender build. A lovely red dress with amber eyes that were as enticing as the woman's voice. "I'd love to know." Her voice seemed to either scare or seduce all who heard it... maybe even both. The only one unaffected by the woman was a still apathetic Neo.

"B-Boss! Look, I can explain! W-We didn't want to bother someone like you about such an issue-"

"But you'd go behind my back to get someone killed?... Mercury, you don't have to lie to me... You don't lie to me." Her voice moved from sensual to threatening as her brow furrowed. "I don't like it when my pawns go behind my back... Don't you know you should never attack a dragon from behind?" The boy just stared at the woman before letting off a small sigh, shaking his head slowly.

"Alright, fine... We want Jaune Arc of Beacon Academy to be killed. He's... got a weird semblance that could pose as a threat. He can project his aura and the more aura that comes away from his body, the more powerful the projections... I don't even know how else to descri- wait! No! He can even change the effects of it! He _ate_ dust! He ate red dust and it burned! Like a bitch!... I swear, It rivaled your fla-" His speech was interrupted as a hand slammed down on the desk before him, the sexy figure of the woman bent over the table as her eyes stared into Mercury's very soul.

"What was that Mercury? It seems that you seem to think that this Jaune Arc is more powerful than I... Is that true or did I miss hear?" She continue to stare at him, her killing intent making the air heavy and thick enough to cut with a knife. The boy just shook his head a little and her grin returned, lifting her hands off of the now charred desk. "Good. I'm glad we made that clear... It almost got ugly..."

"...Well I'm glad I didn't have to get Neo to clean up. That could have been rather messy and she'd hate that." The criminal laughed and waved his hand towards his guests. "Now then! I think your request is quite simple... If he's a little strong and you think he might jeopardize something... I guess I can get Neo to ki-"

"Wait just a minute Roman... I think you're forgetting what I mentioned... He might not be as strong as I, but still... With potential as such, I don't think we can-" The lovely looking boss blinked as the ashen haired underling interrupted, causing her to grow an impatient expression.

"It's not Jaune that's got the semblance, it's a... personality he takes on when he's in danger but also unconscious... It calls itself Kain and seems to have no recollection of who he actually is; Jaune Arc... He's way more brutal and had no problem taking out me and bimbo... Even after her hair was glowing like a god damn lightbulb... The two went at it like fucking animals, and I just had to make sure I didn't enter the crossfire all that much... I fucking hate being the distraction..." The boy leaned back and looked at the vixen's face, who was now intrigued by this information.

"...Good work, Mercury... You two may go now."

"But-"

"Go. Now..." The two underlings sighed as they stood up and left, closing the door behind them as they left. The figure just smiled as she took a seat behind Roman, humming as she slid one smooth, milky skinned leg over the other, running a tongue over her top lip. "Roman... Crack open the wine... I think it's time to celebrate... You are going to make sure that boy comes to us for help, and you're going to help make him stronger... And then you shall give him to me..." In an instant, a bottle of red wine was before her and a glass placed into her hand. She lifted it as the red elixir was poured into her glass. She looked down at the liquid and smirked. "A man who could be a challenge... Well the idea gives me shivers... Do make sure you entertain me, Jaune Arc." The woman lightly bit her bottom lip before the glass broke the connection of tooth to lip, tilted the glass up a little to begin drinking.

" _Achoo!_ Jeez! The beginning of winter always sucks..." A certain blond haired boy was walking along the courtyard of Beacon, getting a few odd glares from people as he walked through the courtyard. He felt incredibly awkward as he walked, feeling as if he was being judged constantly... Jeez, he knew he put on a pretty big show, but he wasn't that threatening. He looked to his left as he noticed Cardin Winchester... doing his normal bullying. And of course, the butt of the joke was none other than the rabbit faunus herself; Velvet... Cardin was an asshole- "Wait a minute..." Something hit Jaune. He could stop her from getting bullied. People seemed pretty intimidated by Jaune, so all he had to do was- he'd do it... maybe someone would actually look at him with respect for once, namely Velvet.

And before Jaune made any form of plan, he was off! He was stood beside Cardin, lightly tapping his shoulder. "Back off, Cardin." The taller boy looked over and blinked at Jaune, actually backing up from him. Jaune just stared, attempting to keep a small cheer of happiness inside of him... Cardin was intimidated! It was almost... sad. "Beat it!" The male didn't run away, but he did back up and turn around, only to speed walk off towards his team which had backed off quite fast. Jaune looked over to Velvet and offered a soft smile. "You alright?... Cardin's an asshole, don't listen to him... Your ears look lovely."

"..." The faunus remained quiet as she watched Jaune save the day, as if he was some kind of forgotten hero... She hadn't exactly seen Jaune in this light before, it was heroic, and in all honesty attractive. The faunus girl quickly pulled out her camera and snapped a picture of Jaune, her cheeks dusting a slight red as she almost hopped over and pecked his cheek, bowing in thanks before jogging away to go meet with her teammates. Jaune stood completely still, his face matching his close friend; Pyrrha's hair. An awkward smile appeared on his face as he began giggling and leaping into the air, spinning. "Whoo! This day just got way better! Hehehe!" And then he was off, ready to go and drone on about how he got a kiss on the cheek from a cute bunny girl... to himself of course, and his pillow.

It was almost as if he had forgotten that his victory would mean he'd need to fight in the quarter finals of the Beacon Tournament. Almost at least. The thought still lingered in the back of his head, festering, like a grimm digging into his mind. "Today's been good so far..."


End file.
